The Real War on Obesity: Contesting Knowledge and Meaning in a Public Health Crisis (Palgrave Studies in Science, Knowledge and Policy)

This book sheds new light on the political battle to define and construct obesity as a policy issue. Through a rich analysis of the debates in Australia and the UK, it develops a nuanced analysis of the competing narratives that actors rely on to make sense of and argue about this issue, and documents how and to what effect they draw on scientific evidence to support their accounts. The real 'war on obesity', it demonstrates, has always been over the meaning and nature of this public health crisis. This insightful work will interest scholars of interpretive policy studies, critical public health and science and technology studies. This book sheds new light on the political battle to define and construct obesity as a policy issue. Through a rich analysis of the debates in Australia and the UK, it develops a nuanced analysis of the competing narratives that actors rely on to make sense of and argue about this issue, and documents how and to what effect they draw on scientific evidence to support their accounts. The real 'war on obesity', it demonstrates, has always been over the meaning and nature of this public health crisis.-- Source other than Library of Congress Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introducing the Real ‘War on Obesity’....Pages 1-31 Front Matter....Pages 33-33 Debating Individual Agency....Pages 35-61 Defining the Scope of the Issue....Pages 63-82 Disputing the Problem....Pages 83-104 Front Matter....Pages 105-105 Representing Knowledge....Pages 107-127 Claiming Knowledge....Pages 129-149 Contesting Knowledge....Pages 151-177 Transmitting Knowledge....Pages 179-200 Conclusion....Pages 201-220 Back Matter....Pages 221-224